The Elsewhere Saga: Brotherhood of Glass

Episode Four: Mobilization

Chapter One: Doldrums

January 30, 2017. BAINE Headquarters.

"What do you mean, 'Greg's been taken?' Taken where, exactly?"

Rhodes had just received a message from Peridot and Lapis, informing them of a recent abduction involving Steven's father. Lapis was reluctant to give out specifics, and Peridot was being…Peridot, so getting more information was difficult. What he had managed to gather was that the Homeworld Gems were involved, but to what extent, he had yet to hear.

"What do you mean, 'what do we mean!?'" Peridot replied over the phone. "Steven and Garnet just got back from Cornea–"

"Korea," Lapis corrected.

"-Yeah, that, and said that Greg was taken by Blue Diamond! He and the Gems took off after them in the Roaming Eye, said they were headed to the Zoo, and that we should stay here and hold down the fort while they were gone, but we have no experience with holding down forts, and giving us free reign over the temple seems like a bad idea, but I have to admit I am intrigued…"

She kept going, but Rhodes hadn't heard any of it after 'Blue Diamond.' "Now, you said that…that Blue Diamond is here? As in, on Earth?" This was the first he was hearing of any of this. Why were Steven and Greg in Korea in the first place? What was this about a zoo? And above all, why hadn't he been informed that one of the leaders of Homeworld had been right under their nose for who knows how long?

"Yup. Blue Diamond, here on Earth," confirmed Lapis. "Something about Pink Diamond's palanquin. To be honest, all I really heard was 'Blue Diamond was here.'"

"That makes two of us," Rhodes mumbled. This was potentially Earth-shaking news, quite literally. He had to inform Director Mills as soon as possible. "Did they tell you anything else?"

"Only that they'd be back soon," said Peridot. "They didn't seem too worried, so I'm sure it's nothing they can't handle. Hey, we managed to disarm the Cluster, what's a breakout at the human zoo compared to that?"

So it was a human zoo. Rhodes was unnerved by the prospect, but not as much as that of a Diamond on Earth. "Okay, well, I need to take this to the boss. We'll send someone over soon, so just stay calm and don't do anything rash."

"With Peridot in charge? 'Rash' might be all you'll get," Lapis snarked.

"Hey! I can be responsible! …Sometimes! When it suits me!" Peridot shot back.

Rhodes hung up, slowly getting to his feet. Gina had been listening to the entire conversation, and was almost more shaken than him. "Well. This day suddenly took a turn for the worse," she said.

"Definitely, but Peridot's right: nothing we can't handle," he said. The two of them made their way out of the lab into the main building. BAINE agents went about their business, blissfully unaware that such an event had occurred. "We handled SEEN, and the Children of Homeworld, and the Koh'i'Noor, how's this any different?"

Gina looked away awkwardly. "Oh, I can think of a few ways it's different. And they all rhyme with 'Diamond.'"

The two of them made their way to Mills' office, not wasting any time knocking. If he was busy, he could wait–something told them this was more urgent than any meeting he had going on. As a matter of fact, he did have a meeting, but it was a smaller one than usual. Inside were only three people: Mills himself, Captain Steele, and Valdain, of all people. "Um…hello," said the alien robot.

"Dr. Rhodes, Dr. Packard," the Director greeted them. "To what do I owe this, er, unscheduled meeting?"

Rhodes and Gina let themselves in, each thinking of the best way to break the news. "Sorry to drop in on you unannounced, but it really can't wait," the former said. "I just got a call from Lapis and Peridot. Apparently, Steven and the other Gems had some business to take care of. Concerning Greg. In Space. You see…"

"Greg was kidnapped," Gina blurted. "Abducted, really. But it's the culprit that's the really worrying part: Blue Diamond herself."

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became a lot less casual. These three knew the grave implications of such a thing just as anyone else. "No, you must have heard them wrong," said Steele. "It had to be a Gem working for Blue Diamond. No chance she'd come to Earth herself."

"I thought the same thing, but apparently it was her, in the…whatever the Gem version of 'flesh' is," said Rhodes. "I doubt the Gems would've just up and left the planet if it wasn't urgent. Unfortunately, that leaves us with a much bigger problem…"

"If she's come here once, what's to stop her from coming back?" Valdain finished. "Mr. Director, I believe this takes precedence over what we were discussing. Perhaps we should resume this conversation later?"

Mills rolled around his desk. "Yes, I think that's what we should do. Dr. Rhodes, I don't suppose Lapis or Peridot informed you of anything else?"

"Not much, I'm afraid," he replied. "The only other thing was that this took place in Korea. But why Blue Diamond or Steven would be in Korea, I can't tell you."

The Director was silent for a few moments. "Korea…Captain Steele, correct me if I'm wrong, but was that not the location of Pink Diamond's assassination?"

"I believe it was, Sir," said the Captain. "In fact, reports say that her palanquin is still there to this day."

That answered that question, but it didn't solve their most pressing problem. "Should we keep this hush-hush for now?" asked Gina. "Or should we tell everyone to be on high alert? Because this sort of feels like the thing that we should be on high alert for."

"No, not yet," said Steele. "Until we know more, this should stay entirely need-to-know. We don't want to risk causing a panic."

"A panic? Here?" Valdain said skeptically. "From what I've seen, BAINE is probably the last place you'd see a panic about the Diamonds. Though I must admit, I do feel a bit like panicking myself…"

"Nobody's panicking, alright?" said Rhodes. "Yes, Blue Diamond was here, but she isn't anymore. And yes, she did abduct somebody, but the Gems are on the case. For now, why don't we handle what's still in our power to handle, like securing things at the temple?"

"Another excellent idea," said Mills. The group made their way out of the office, following the Director. "Dr. Rhodes, I suggest that you get Fireteam Victor for this. If anyone else is to be 'in the know,' I would recommend it be them."

Rhodes was a bit skeptical. "Uh, Victor? If you say so, but I'm pretty sure they're working through some issues of their own."

"Nah, they're fine," said Gina. "Now, you go tell Daniel what's up, I'm gonna see if any of our satellites picked up Blue Diamond's ship. Granted, if they had, we'd have gotten a heads-up, but it doesn't hurt to check." She and Rhodes parted from the group, leaving the three to continue on their way.

"Now then," said Steele, "shall we continue discussing our contingency plans?"

As it tended to be, the firing range was filled with the sound of a discharging weapon. Only this time, rather than the loud rapport of bullets, this sound was that of energy discharging. Vargas, decked out in full Quartzbreaker armor, was busy unleashing a stream of lasers on the holographic targets. Simulated threats charged from the back wall, only to be cut down in droves by his gun.

Also present was Luke, who sat back and watched as Vargas made short work of the simulation. He was the only other person in the room, however, which ordinarily wouldn't be too odd, were it not for the fact that he and Vargas tended to avoid each other when possible. Though despite being in the same room, Luke was hanging back by the far wall.

Following the sound of gunfire, Rhodes soon made his way onto the firing range. "Ah, I figured that was Vargas. Alright, I have an important mission for you all, where's Daniel?"

"Out," Luke informed him. "He and the rest of Fireteam Victor are taking care of some smuggling ring up in the big city. I'm here to keep an eye on Vargas…but don't ask me why he got left behind." The two of them watched as the soldier continued tearing apart the targets.

"They probably didn't need their heavy-hitter for such a small operation," Rhodes suggested. However, he had a sneaking suspicion there was another reason Captain Bridge had left Vargas behind. "Have they said anything else about the…you know?"

Luke was quiet for a bit. "Not in a while," he said eventually. "Don't get me wrong, me and Vargas have never really seen eye-to-eye, but is this whole thing really worth shunning him over? It's not like he was actively working against us."

"That we know of," Rhodes added. "And even if he wasn't, I can imagine withholding information like that wouldn't exactly endear him to Daniel."

Just over half a year ago, Vargas had revealed that he was a former member of the Children of Homeworld. His past had always been murky, but to casually bring something like that up, and to not even mention it when it could have been useful, rubbed some of his teammates the wrong way. And while there was no bad blood, it was obvious that most of them were a bit wary around him now that his secret was out.

"We could take care of it if you need something," Luke said. "What's up? Corrupted Gem on the loose?"

"Nevermind," said Rhodes, making his way out. "I'll get another Fireteam, it's no big deal. Good luck with, uh, whatever it is you're doing." And then he was gone, leaving Luke to ponder what exactly was the important mission he was talking about.

Finally, Vargas took a break from the shooting range. It may have had something to do with the gun's red-hot barrel as he set it down, leaning against the guardrail as he stared off into space. Luke slowly walked over. "So, you beat your high score yet?"

He asked it in jest, but Vargas really seemed to be treating this like a competition. "Still not fast enough," he muttered, picking up his gun again. "I gotta be faster. I gotta be better."

Luke stared at him for a while. "Is this about Daniel?" he asked. "Are you worried that he'll think less of you unless you prove yourself worthy, or something? Because I've seen movies, and that sort of thing rarely works."

Vargas scoffed. "What, am I not allowed to better myself?" He readied his weapon for another round. "This has nothing to do with all that 'Children of Homeworld' nonsense. This is all for me."

"Um, okay, good on you, then," Luke replied. "Just save some ammo for the rest of us, yeah?" He patted him on the back before leaving.

The holographic targets began to appear. "Besides, that's not even the worst thing I've done," Vargas added under his breath.

Dover City, underground bunker.

In the dimly-lit concrete halls of the secret basement, the multitude of armed men and women waited around the single door leading further in. It was more than likely locked and booby-trapped, not that this would be a problem for their specialist. "Breaching charges in place," Ichigo announced, his back pressed up against the wall as his thumb hovered over the detonator. "On your call, Captain."

Daniel had his fist raised as the SWAT team gathered around them waited for his signal. "Hester, how's it look in there?" he asked.

Looking down at a tablet in her hands, Hester scanned the wall. A rough simulated layout of the room slowly appeared, as did a series of blips. "I count five hostiles, Captain," she said quietly. "We have to assume they're armed."

"That's why I called for backup," said Daniel. He nodded towards Ichigo. "Hit it."

Grinning, Ichigo hit it. The breaching charge went off, blasting the door's handle apart and throwing it open. Before their enemies had time to recover from the shock, Daniel gave the order.

"Now, engage!" he shouted, leading the charge.

AN: Aw man, how long has it been since we've seen BAINE? Too long, I tell you! Seeing as it was my first series on this site, I'm glad to finally be getting back to the Elsewhere Sage after all this time. Just hope I didn't keep you all waiting too long!